


Wish You Were Here

by easilydistractedbyfanfic



Category: Wu Assassins (TV)
Genre: Alternate Canon, Cussing, F/M, Post-Canon, Regret, What-If
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-24
Updated: 2019-12-24
Packaged: 2021-02-25 23:28:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,549
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21923671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/easilydistractedbyfanfic/pseuds/easilydistractedbyfanfic
Summary: After 1x10, Lu Xin realizes he's an idiot
Relationships: Christine Gavin/Lu Xin Lee
Comments: 6
Kudos: 21





	Wish You Were Here

**Author's Note:**

> I have only ever written for one ship in one fandom, but I binged Wu Assassins and enjoyed it, and the Christine & Lu Xin dynamic is absolutely my kind of ship. This story wouldn't leave my head, so here it is. Don't worry, I'll be back to my regularly scheduled OTP shortly! But in the meantime, here's to trying something new!

We're just two lost souls

Swimming in a fish bowl

Year after year

Running over the same old ground

And how we found

The same old fears

Wish you were here

~ Pink Floyd

  
  


“So what’s the deal with you and Christine?” Tommy asks, as soon as they step outside the restaurant and into the alley. The same alley where she had kissed him almost three months ago, giving his world another crazy spin, just like she’d been doing since the moment he met her. 

“What are you talking about?” Lu Xin challenges, sliding a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, determined to hide any trace of his thoughts from his tone as he flicks open his lighter. 

Tommy waves his hand in agitation. “Oh, come on. The weekly dinners are a thing now and me, Kai and Jenny don’t seem to have any trouble talking about her when the subject comes up, but you stay silent every time she’s mentioned. You don’t talk about her, don’t guess at where she’s gone or when she’ll be back, and you can’t tell me you don’t care. Maybe Kai and Jenny don’t notice, but I heard it for myself. When we were trying to get out of that other-world, that Path place before Kai went through the gate after McCullough. You were shouting at us all to go through the portal, to escape while we could, but you called for Christine first.” Tommy gives him a sly look. “Things were too fucked up then for me to say anything about it, but now that I’ve had time to clear my head, it occurs to me that it was telling that’d you’d think of her before the friends you’ve known for years.”

Lu Xin takes a slow pull of nicotine, deliberately stalling as Tommy shifts his stance impatiently. “You’re reaching pretty far on that one. If you’ve got too much time on your hands, I could still use your help at the garage.”

“Mmm-hmm, as I expected - a change of subject,” Tommy grins. “Look, you don’t wanna talk about it, fine by me. I’m just sayin’ if you _did_ want to, I could listen. I get that it’s complicated, but for what it’s worth, man… life’s unpredictable and I’m glad Jenny’s taking that lesson seriously. She’s doing what she _wants_ now, not what she thinks she has to.” Tommy turns, regarding Lu Xin seriously with knowing eyes. “You should too. Don’t waste time; we’ve all lost too much already.”

He watches as Tommy gives him a jaunty wave, heading off into the shadows. Releasing a cloud of smoke from his mouth, he considers his friend’s advice. It _was_ complicated with Christine, and every day she’d been gone his mind had been full of the myriad difficulties between them that made a relationship seem impossible, and the responsibilities of his own life as he weighed his next steps in the absence of Uncle Six’s leadership and the expectations that went along with that. Yet he couldn’t escape the knowledge that echoed through his mind louder than the rest of it - the certainty of just how much he had wanted to accept her offer and leave with her, everything else be damned.

*

“Has she contacted you?” Kai asks casually, almost as an afterthought, and Lu Xin’s stomach tightens as he sits back in his favorite chair. 

“No,” he replies, his voice immediate and clear in spite of the emotions the question stirs. It’s four months now since he last saw her standing in front of him, felt the warmth of her as she pressed her lips to his. He’s been keeping track in his head, each night adding another mental tick mark to the long line of days that stretch between them. If he had known she’d be gone this long… No, better not to second-guess, he thinks, and it’s not as if he hasn’t replayed their last moments many times before, indulging himself as he imagined how she would have reacted if he had said yes. 

Strictly speaking, it wasn’t technically a lie that rolled off his tongue, though Kai might not view it that way. The postcard had arrived almost two weeks ago, sent to the garage. He knew the moment he saw it sticking out of the pile on his desk that it was from Christine. 

The photo on the front was a tranquil beach at sunset, the clear and calm blue water and pale sand emblazoned with the name of a small town in Mexico. The back of the card where travellers typically wrote out their effusive praise of their vacations had one simple sentence written on it, in a neat hand. ‘Wish you were here’ it read, and there hadn’t been a signature, just like there hadn’t been his name listed as the recipient either. Still, he knew the message was intended for him and from _her_ , and he feels a flash of guilt for not telling Kai although the feeling dissipates quicker than maybe it should. 

As much as he knows it’s going to give him away, there’s no way he can stop the return inquiry from escaping his lips. 

“Have you?”

He can’t see Kai’s face because of his old friend’s position near the window, but the answer comes quickly and unlike himself, he has no reason to believe that Kai isn’t telling the truth. 

“No. But she can take care of herself. We’ll know when she’s back.” Kai turns around with a reassuring expression on his face, and Lu Xin wonders once again just how this particular woman managed to so thoroughly insert herself into so many lives that used to be so private. 

It’s selfish, maybe, that there’s a thrill of satisfaction buzzing through him that Christine has only reached out to him and no one else. He doesn’t begrudge her friendship with Kai or the others, but he likes being set apart, likes the insinuation of _more_ between them and that she’s acknowledging it. He may have resisted this...this _spark_ between them, but he can admit to himself at least that it doesn’t mean he doesn’t want it. 

*

Peace. That’s what she’d told him she hoped he’d find, so it’s all the more ironic that thoughts of her are what have him tossing and turning most nights, unable to sleep. He doesn’t worry if she’s okay, because Kai was right about Christine being able to take care of herself. Instead he thinks about what he might say to her when she returns, about how often she’s in his thoughts or how some of his decisions lately have been influenced by her opinion. She won’t be happy with everything he’s done in her absence, but he’s feeling confident that even when she’s pissed - and oh she will be, he’s sure of that - even then she’ll stick around to yell or convince him to change his mind rather than just silently move on. That’s the good part, the stuff that feels comforting rather than what urges him out of bed for another cigarette. Those thoughts, the complicated ones...that’s what keeps him awake. Because even though they have more in common than he’d ever thought possible, they’re still on opposite sides of the law most of the time, and he can’t change everything about himself and his business and suddenly go straight and more than that - he doesn’t want to. 

She was right about Uncle Six’s absence leaving a vacuum, and with Zan still overseas kissing ass, he’s been in a position to take advantage of the gap and he wasn’t about to pass that up, so long as it meant he could pick and choose the sorts of things he got into. Hell, it had been almost too easy after everything he’d been through since learning about the Wu Xing powers. Stealing cars was a piece of cake in comparison, and somehow word had gotten around that Lu Xin was someone to be both feared and respected and lately he couldn’t go anywhere without people wanting to impress him. It was exactly what he’d worked so hard for before - the recognition, the power. But now that he had it, it left him empty and cold. 

He shouldn’t be surprised. Things hadn’t felt right for him since he let Christine leave that alley alone. 

*

Jenny slips back behind the bar at Master Wah’s like she’s never left, expertly pouring two shots for them while they wait for Kai to arrive. Tommy’ll join them after they’re all seated, like always, since he’s busy shouting orders into the kitchen. 

She knocks her glass into his with a flick of her wrist, then downs the fiery liquid in one gulp. Lu Xin raises an eyebrow in appreciation and guzzles his own drink in return, well aware that his friend must have something on her mind. Jenny’s ahead of him, already pouring another shot for herself, though she spills some into his glass when he slides it over. 

“I saw her today,” Jenny eventually says, and it’s a struggle to keep his face passive. “I was downtown near my office when I looked through the window in the coffee shop near the police building.”

“Maybe it wasn’t her,” Lu Xin shrugs, willing his body language to stay casual. “It doesn’t sound like you got that close. There’s more than one blonde woman in this city, you know.”

Jenny glares at him. “Don’t be an ass. You don’t go through the things we did and not know exactly who each other is. It was her, alright. If she just got back it probably won’t be long before she comes looking for us all, and I swear you better have some damned good excuses for some of the things I hear you’ve been up to.”

He does his best to look innocent, but Jenny knows him well enough that it’s unlikely she’ll buy it. “If it was her, then we’ll know soon enough. In the meantime, we wait. Between you, Kai and Tommy tonight, I’m sure there’ll be any number of theories about what she’s been up to or how exactly she managed to spin the whole story to her boss. But there’s no use stressing about it until we hear it from her.”

It’s a good thing Jenny just purses her lips and tidies the bar for a few moments, because he’s not sure how long he can keep the indifferent mask in place with the overwhelming knowledge that she’s finally back. There’s a low, insistent hum of excitement running through his veins and he’s already got a plan for how he can escape their weekly dinner early. 

*

While Christine has been gone, he’s had a few guys keep an eye on her place down by the pier, mostly to find out who might come looking for her. It’s not a given that she’ll return there, but he takes the gamble anyway, mindful that she’ll spot his car on the approach. 

She opens the door before he knocks and even though he thought he was prepared, he isn’t. Her hair is pulled back in a messy bun, she’s in a baggy sweatshirt and ragged shorts and she’s easily the most beautiful sight he’s ever seen. 

“Word travels fast around here.” 

Leaving the door open behind her, Christine turns and pads barefoot down the hallway. She doesn’t seem angry that he’s here, and the fact that she let him in was probably a good sign, so he locks the door and follows her into the part of the space she uses as a kitchen. 

He places the bag in his arms on the island and gestures vaguely at it. “Thought you could use some groceries.”

Christine lifts up on her tiptoes to peer inside, and starts to pull out the contents. She gives him a grateful look when she sees the coffee beans and container of milk. 

“You’re not wrong. Been watching my place since I left, then?”

“Maybe,” he admits. “But Jenny saw you downtown earlier.”

Sighing, Christine opens the refrigerator and shoves a few items inside. “I got back late last night, and I was at the precinct since early this morning. We’ve got a lot to talk about.”

“I suppose we do.”

Surprisingly, he’s not even a little bit curious about it all. Content to just watch her, he leans against the cabinets at his back while he takes her in. She’s got more of a tan than when she left, but otherwise she’s the same. He could be wrong - he hides his own secrets quite well, after all. But for now it’s enough that she’s here, in front of him, and the minute they start to talk about it will just ruin the moment, which is the last thing he wants. 

It seems she feels the same, because she doesn’t push the issue and continues putting the groceries away in comfortable silence until there’s no more left. She looks up, meeting his eyes, and he knows then that she has changed, at least a little, because there are more secrets there than when he last saw her. He wants to know all of them, but he’s determined not to fuck it up this time and he’ll wait as long as he has to. 

Without looking away, she walks slowly over to stand in front of him, and his heart starts hammering beneath his chest when he can feel the warmth of her body radiating towards him once again. She doesn’t say a word and after what feels like a prolonged standoff it’s suddenly too much for him to take so he lets a burst of his emotions out before he can think better of it. 

“You were gone too long,” he accuses her, and there’s no way she could miss the underlying need in his words. 

Relief washes over her face and her lips form a shaky smile. “Actually it sounds like I was gone just long enough,” she tells him, and the pit that’s been heavy in his stomach is suddenly and finally _gone_ , and he can breathe deeply again for the first time since she drove away from him. He wasn’t too late. 

Unsteady, he reaches for her, wrapping one arm around her waist to yank her to him while he lifts her chin with the other, desperate for the feel of her mouth on his after so long. Christine’s hands fist into his shirt and hold tight while they kiss, and he knows it’s his fault that she’s still uncertain of him, unsure of rejection. He pulls her closer, lifting her up to snug her thighs around his hips, determined to do whatever it takes to show her he’s not quite the fucking idiot he acted like when she made the first move months ago. 

It wouldn’t be easy, a relationship between a cop and a criminal, but he had a feeling they could both be pretty flexible, all things considered. He wouldn’t, couldn’t lose her again, he knows that much. She was here now, and he was going to keep it that way. And as he lowers her down onto the bed, her lips swollen and eyes sparkling as she reaches up for him, he knows he’ll destroy anything that gets in their way. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed me sticking my toe into these untested waters!


End file.
